8 slain, dozens injured in weekend shootings

Killings are double the figure for Memorial Day 2011

A violent holiday weekend ended with eight people reported dead and at least 38 others injured in shootings across the city.

The incidents, which occurred over the last four days amid unseasonably warm weather, add to the growing number of shootings logged this year. The city has had more homicides and shootings so far in 2012 than during the same time last year, according to unofficial briefing summaries prepared by the Chicago Police Department.

A department spokesman would not confirm the tally Monday, saying several incidents were still under investigation and could not be classified at this time.

According to the police summary, there have been at least 200 homicides so far this year compared with 134 during the same period in 2011. That represents a 49.25 percent increase over last year.

The eight people killed over the recent long weekend outnumber the four reported slain during the 2011 holiday weekend, when severe storms wreaked havoc on the Chicago area and forced many people inside.

Among those killed this weekend was Robert McNear, 35, a Park Manor man shot in the chest in an alley in the 5000 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue in the Bronzeville neighborhood, police said. Authorities offered few details about the shooting, but police recovered .45-caliber shell casings at the scene and said the incident appeared gang-related.

Shootings are up nearly 14 percent over last year, according to the unofficial summaries. There have been 851 shootings so far in 2012 compared with 747 during the same period in 2011, police data showed.

The seemingly worsening violence comes as the Emanuel administration touts its efforts to combat gang crime and add officers and resources to some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. Experts, however, have cautioned that crime statistics from only a few months can be misleading and noted that in recent years, Chicago has been at historic lows for homicides.

In 2008, the city saw similar spikes early in the year and ended up with more than 500 homicides, the only time that has happened in the last nine years.